


First Flowers

by Himring



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: First Age, Flowers, Gen, Mithrim, implied canonical character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29330727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himring/pseuds/Himring
Summary: In the early days, just after Fingolfin and his people arrive in Mithrim, Idril finds a flower and decides to consult someone who might know it.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 21
Collections: tolkienshortfanworks





	First Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> For the tolkienshortfanworks prompt "First Flowers", which provided the title.

‘What is this?’, Idril asked Annael, holding out the flower.

He was there to speak with her grandfather about important matters, of course, but Idril had latched on to him as a great fount of local knowledge and he had shown no sign yet of tiring of her questions. Sometimes he seemed almost relieved, even, as if her questions were easier to answer than those of others.

But this time he said: ‘I do not know.’

Idril had believed that Annael knew everything that grew in Mithrim. She had plucked the flower from among a cluster of others where it grew scattered among the bracken on the northern slope of a hill. Surely, it could not be so rare?

‘It must be one of the new ones that came up with the first rising of the Sun,’ Annael explained. ‘Where did you find it?’

This plant was so new? Idril was impressed, although to her all of Middle-earth was new.

‘If you are the first to find it, it has no name yet and you could give it a name,’ Annael suggested. ‘What would you like to call it?’

Idril looked at the flower afresh with new eyes. Now it was no longer a plant to find out about, but a plant to name. She was struck, as she had not been before, how very white its petals were, gleaming almost like ice and snow—suddenly, she was not sure she wanted to go on holding this flower, let alone name it.

No. The Ice was behind them, far behind them, and the snow had melted beneath their feet as the Sun rose and flowers had sprung up. The blossom of this flower, too, looked as if it was melting, almost, as if a drop had formed and was about to fall. Like a white tear.

No, no tears.

‘Snowdrop,’ said Idril, firmly. ‘I think it should be called Snowdrop.’

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of handwaving here:
> 
> So, it turned out that Quenya actually has an attested word for snowdrop: "nieninquë", which literally means "white tear".  
> But I did not want newly orphaned Idril to give it that name, because that would have made it a sadder story.  
> So maybe there is more than one Elvish word for snowdrop or maybe Sindarin has a different one from Quenya, as the Sindarin equivalent of "nieninquë" does not seem to be attested.  
> It is possible that snowdrops grow somewhere in Valinor, but Idril had never encountered them.
> 
> (And there is no attempt at constructing a credible botanical transition for early First Age Beleriand here. That is a world-building challenge too far for me!)


End file.
